Letters of Note: Observer readers' most intriguing correspondence

Earlier this year, the Observer published a selection of extraordinary historical letters collected by Shaun Usher, the man behind the popular Letters of Note website and now book. The correspondence inspired lots of readers to share their treasured letters with us. Usher described it as 'a genuine pleasure' to read all the submissions. Here we publish eight of those letters with Usher's comments. 'All of them,' he says, 'prove the value of such correspondence at a time when it's so close to slipping from our grasp'